It is insufficiently recognised just how much the pendulum has swung against Silicon Valley in recent years. A couple of years ago, it was widely seen as heralding a glorious new technological era that would be a great boon for humanity

He said: “The costs incurred throughout the supply chain would reduce as a result of the research being taxable. This is because the broker providing research to this investment manager would be slightly better off compared to the current position, as it would be entitled to recover VAT associated with the research.

Northern Ireland’s local government pension scheme (LGPS) posted a 21.7% investment return in the 12 months to 30 March, according to its annual report.

The Northern Ireland Local Government Officers’ Superannuation Committee (NILGOSC) reported that the pension fund grew to more than £7bn by the end of March.

During the year, NILGOSC appointed Unigestion to a £327m global equity mandate and allocated £100m to the M&G UK Residential Property fund.

“This latter commitment forms part of NILGOSC’s medium-term strategy to reduce reliance on global equity markets and diversify its returns by investing in assets that provide longer term, stable and inflation-linked cashflows,” the pension fund said.

As part of the move to reduce equity exposure, NILGOSC initiated the sale of £175m of UK equities, crystallising gains. It also put in place a 50% hedge of its US dollar exposure.

The fund increased its exposure to infrastructure to 1% of the portfolio during the 2016-17 period. The investment was made through a collaborative venture with the Lothian Pension Fund in Scotland, and included a £10m co-investment.

NILGOSC said: “The underlying principle behind this collaboration on alternative investments is to identify assets that are in the mutual interest of investors and their stakeholders, specifically through the benefits of scale and improved commercial terms.

“It is intended that this co-investment strategy will sit alongside the core primary infrastructure funds to help NILGOSC build a diversified portfolio of assets in line with its strategic allocation to the asset class.”

Isle of Man public sector liabilities rocket by 28%

The Isle of Man’s public sector pension liabilities increased by more than a quarter in the 2016-17 financial year, according to an actuarial report.

The report by Hymans Robertson said that combined liabilities for five local government schemes grew from just under £3bn to £3.8bn, an increase of 27.8%.

The schemes are largely unfunded, with benefits being paid from government accounts and a small reserve fund, worth £82.4m at the end of March.

Earlier this year, unions approved a plan to increase contributions to the largest of the island’s public sector funds, the Government Unified Pension Scheme. In March this year contributions rose by 2.5 percentage points to 7.5%, while benefits were reduced by 6%.

The five schemes cater for more than 20,000 active, deferred and pensioner members.